


How Does Your Garden Grow?

by Blyth3



Category: Elsewhere University (Webcomic)
Genre: (The Botany Professor is a canon character from an ask on the blog), Bad Parenting, Botany, I may have to edit the beginning as I write the end, Illnesses, Mental Health Issues, Mystery, Nonbinary Character, Nymphs & Dryads, Other, Passive Suicidal Ideation, Vomiting, the relationship that I entered is between a nonbinary person and a man for the record, this probs contradicts canon but whatever
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-11
Updated: 2018-11-03
Packaged: 2019-03-03 08:06:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13336968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blyth3/pseuds/Blyth3
Summary: When people she didn’t know very well asked Wary how she’d picked her name, she laughed them off or gave them a non-answer, like, “Oh, I just chose it, you know?”  One time she stared into the distance dramatically and told someone it was a “reminder” but then they got worried about her, so she decided not to try that again.Wary is a second-year Botany major who has tried very hard not be Involved, which is difficult when her best friend seems to be on a new quest every week.  But when a dryad with a strange illness shows up at her door, she quickly finds herself in over her head.





	1. Chapter 1

When people she didn’t know very well asked Wary how she’d picked her name, she laughed them off or gave them a non-answer, like, “Oh, I just chose it, you know?” One time she stared into the distance dramatically and told someone it was a “reminder” but then they got worried about her, so she decided not to try that again.

 

When new friends asked her, she admitted that she’d originally chosen the name “February”, but that her first-year friend group had quickly shortened it to “Wary” and now that was the only name anyone used.

 

When her best friend Nye asked her, she laughed. The two of them were partway through their second year, and they were sitting on Wary’s floor at 3 am, working their way through a pile of junk food while she tried to bleach Nye’s hair. The window was open just a crack, to keep the fumes down, but that made the room chilly, and they were both wrapped in blankets.

“It’s kind of embarrassing,” Wary said.

“Wary,” Nye said. “I panicked and picked Dionysus because I’m a nonbinary Classics major. There are _six other_ _nonbinary_ _Classics majors_ with the same name. It’s taken over a year to get most people calling me Nye instead!”

“Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill!” Wary chanted quietly.

“Oh fuck _off_ ,” Nye said. “But listen, it can’t be worse than that. I remember you told me it was originally ‘February’, but I wanna know how you picked _that_ in the first place.”

“Fine, fine,” Wary said. “Okay. So you know how a lot of girls have a vampire phase in middle school? And sometimes high school too? Well I had a… you know… phase.”

“A ‘you know’ phase?” Nye said.

“You know!” Wary said, gesturing around vaguely. “The Kindly Ones or whatever!”

“Wary, that’s Greek mythology,” Nye said. “That’s what you call harpies.”

“Well for all we know, there are harpies around here too,” Wary said. “But you _know_ what I mean.”

“Yeah, fine, so you wanted to fuck an elf when you were thirteen,” Nye said.

“Shh!” Wary said. “Don’t say the e word!”

“I think ‘elf’ is fine,” Nye said. “Or else the tabletop gaming club wouldn’t still be around.”

“Good point,” Wary said. “Anyway. Elf, uh, _boning_ aside, I learned a lot about folklore through reading all those books. So when I applied, I read about some of the weird traditions Elsewhere has, and I looked at some alumni blogs, and I thought wow, isn’t it weird how so many of these line up with what I’ve read about the Fair Folk?”

“Except with less elf-boning.”

“Except with less elf-boning.” Wary shrugged. “At least as far as we know. I didn’t believe that it was _actual_ magic with _actual_ , uh, Fair Folk, but I thought it was interesting. So when we had to pick names at orientation, I was thinking about how that also lined up with what I’d read, and I thought it would be funny if I picked something thematic. There’s this book series I really like—I only got into it recently and it’s more ‘murder mystery’ than ‘dramatic teenagers’, it’s actually not YA, but it does probably qualify as ‘elf-boning’—and a bunch of the characters are named after months.”

“So you picked February,” Nye said.

“There aren’t any characters named February yet,” Wary said. “And it’s my birth month. But then it ended up shortened and no one’s ever gotten the joke when I tell them it was originally ‘February’.”

“Who shortened it, anyway?” Nye said.

“I think it was Adelaide,” Wary said, and that killed the mood, because Wary’s freshman year roommate had been missing for two months and there hadn’t even been a replacement.

 

-

 

Wary was one of the few students at Elsewhere University who knew what was going on but wasn’t Involved. (She’d gone from “Huh, that’s weird” to “Hey, wait a second” one day in her first semester when she saw a pack of white hounds with red ears tearing across campus.) Sometimes, Wary thought that she might like to be Involved, that maybe she could go on an adventure like in the fantasy books she loved to read. Early in her second semester, she’d allowed Nye to drag her to a revel; she’d had a panic attack and left after ten minutes. Nye had stayed, and they’d ended up going on a three-day-long quest that left them in the hospital for a week (even after they’d seen a less… conventional doctor first) but they hadn’t had to shave their face or neck since.

Ever since the revel, Wary had maintained a firm distance from anything that felt remotely supernatural, magical, or just plain weird. She suspected that this policy might have saved her life at least once, and she wasn’t eager to stop adhering to it.

Which was why, when she opened her door one Tuesday morning late in her second year to find an unnervingly delicate boy standing outside her room, she shut the door in his face and texted Nye asking if there was a way to safely escape out of a fifth-floor window.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okey dokey, here goes my first multi-chapter fic... ever, I think. I have a bit of a buffer zone written, so I'm hoping I'll be able to update this semi-regularly; as I said in the tags, the end isn't totally worked yet so there's a chance I'll have to go back and edit things, but I'll make sure to say if that happens.


	2. Chapter 2

_define “safely,”_ Nye replied

 _Nye!!_ Wary said. _This is serious!!_

_are you_

_uh_

_okay?_ Nye said.

 _No!!_ Wary said. _There’s something outside my door._

_wait is it a hot dude_

Wary frowned down at her phone. _I guess?_ she typed.

_oh thats just ivy i told him to talk to you_

_ive mentioned ivy before right_

_did i not text you_

Wary stared at her phone, trying very hard not to imagine impaling Nye on the sword they’d won on a quest sometime before the two of them had become friends. _NO!!_ Wary typed eventually. _YOU DID NOT_ _TEXT ME_ _!!_ Now that she thought about it, she was pretty sure that Nye had mentioned Ivy to her, but that had been months ago and only in passing.

 _sorry,_ Nye said. _he has a plant question_

 _What makes you think I’M qualified to answer it??_ Wary said.

_youre literally a botany major_

_Ughhh,_ Wary said. _Not a MAGIC botany major._ She sighed.

 _Is he like… safe?_ she added after a moment.

 _well he_ _does bite_ _,_ Nye said. _buuuuuuuut… yeah mostly_

Wary had no idea how to react to that message.

 _im talking about hickeys_ , Nye added, just to clarify.

 _TMI!!_ Wary typed, just as someone knocked at the door.

“Wary?” said an unfamiliar voice.

“Just a second!” Wary called back, hitting “send” on her last message to Nye. She eyed her room. She hadn’t wanted to go overboard with the protections, just in case someone thought she had something to hide, but… yeah. It would be too hard to dismantle everything. She put on her angry face (which wasn’t exactly hard at the moment) and yanked open the door, pausing look Ivy up and down. He reminded her of nothing so much as a baby fawn, with freckled, golden brown skin and perfectly curled hair. He was short, probably shorter than Nye, which meant that Wary was over a foot taller than him. Ivy looked away from her glare and scratched his arm.

“Who sent you?” she said, scowling at Ivy. He looked rather taken aback, his already overlarge eyes widening.

“Nye” he said. “They forgot to tell you, didn’t they?”

“Yes,” Wary said, relaxing just a little bit—maybe he really _did_ know Nye somehow. “Well, they texted me just now. After I texted them saying you were here.”

Ivy sighed.

“That sounds like them,” he said. Wary nodded firmly.

“Well,” she said. “I’m not letting you in, because I don’t want to dismantle my protections. And I’m not convinced I should come out there with you just yet. So do you have any objections to just… talking across the doorway?”

Ivy looked around for a long moment before nodding slowly.

“No,” he said. “I think it should be alright. Do you mind if I sit?”

Wary made a “go ahead” gesture, and Ivy settled gracefully onto the floor. After a moment, she decided she’d rather not loom quite so much, so she sat down too.

“Okay,” she said. “Shoot. Wait! Uh, I mean, go ahead and tell me the problem.” She _really_ didn’t want Ivy to misinterpret her saying “shoot”.

“I _do_ understand most slang,” Ivy said. “I ‘hang out’ with humans with some regularity.” Wary felt her cheeks heat, which probably meant that she was blushing. Well, better safe than sorry. She shrugged at him, and he continued. “Firstly,” he said, “I am a dryad.” Wary had a vague thought that dryads were supposed to be all girls, but it seemed rude to say that, so she kept her mouth shut. Ivy looked at her with an odd expression that she couldn’t really interpret, but kept going. “I am a tulip tree, rooted almost a mile North of here. I am part of a small grove, all tulip trees—about half of the trees are inhabited by dryads.”

 _I can’t believe this is a conversation I’m having right now,_ Wary thought, trying to keep her face neutral. _Why is the dryad of a_ tulip _tree using the name_ Ivy _?_ _Why do some of the trees have dryads while others don’t? How does that work? Do new dryads get new trees, or do they get ones that are already grown?_ _Also I can’t believe my best friend got a hickey from a literal_ _tulip tree. Wait, hey! I can’t believe my best friend got a hickey from a tulip tree and didn’t_ tell _me!_ _I_ have _to ask them what it was like._

Ivy continued, oblivious to Wary’s idle musing on whether or not he had a cute sibling _she_ could make out with. (For science, of course.) “Last week,” he said, “I noticed an odd discoloration on my leaves.”

“What did it look like?” Wary said, mentally filing away her thoughts about dryad makeouts for later.

“Bright red,” Ivy said. “And oddly geometric. There are too many straight lines in its shapes.”

“Huh,” Wary said. “Wow. Uh. I’ve never heard of anything like that. Is it still there? And hey, why are you asking _me_ about this? Don’t you have, uh, doctors?  Or something?  I know Nye’s kind of friends with a doctor who treats all sorts of people. Like, not just humans.”

“It remains,” Ivy said. “In fact, it has spread. And I have my reasons for seeking your aid.”

“Ooh, mysterious,” Wary said, before she remembered who—or rather, what—she was mocking. Luckily, Ivy didn’t seem to be too offended.

“I disagreed with a decision that my mother made recently,” he said, absentmindedly scratching his foot. “Or rather, recently by my standards, and less so by yours. I am currently out of favor.”

“Right,” Wary said, although privately she thought that a good doctor shouldn’t care about that sort of thing. “So… Wow, this is so weird for me. Can you describe your symptoms? Do you feel any different?”

“Tired,” Ivy said. “And slightly itchy. But that is all. I am afraid that may not narrow it down much.”

“It doesn’t,” Wary said. “I mean, partially because people usually can’t _ask_ trees how they feel when they get sick.” She clapped her hands over her mouth. “Ohmygod, I’m so sorry! Is calling you a tree offensive?”

“No” Ivy said. “It’s not the most accurate term, but I—”

“Hey!” someone said. “Is this guy bothering you?”

Wary had a moment of panic—she could get in big trouble for letting Ivy into the dorms, and probably no one would listen to her if she said she hadn’t—but then she realized it was just Nye, strutting around the corner of the hall.

“You jerk!” Wary said, jumping up and storming past Ivy, who wisely scooted out of her way.

“I’m sorry,” Nye said, stopping in front of her. “I really did think I’d texted you.” Wary glared at them, but noticed that they were carrying their backpack. Nye never actually used their backpack for textbooks or other school supplies—instead, they used it to stealthily carry their short sword around. They looked a bit rumpled, and now that Wary thought about it, the amount of time it had taken between her text and their arrival was about the amount of time it took to run over from their dorm…

“Apology accepted,” Wary said after a long moment. “But I’m still kind of mad.”

“Hello!” Ivy said. Nye beamed.

“Hey!” they said. “Fancy meeting you here!”

Wary rolled her eyes and went back into her room while Nye and Ivy flirted in the doorway.

“Elf-boning,” she muttered. After some rummaging in the back of her closet, she pulled out her hiking boots and sat down to put them on.

“What the fuck are _those_?” Nye said, pausing in their conversation and pointing at her feet. Wary looked up from where she was struggling with a knotted lace.

“…my hiking boots?” she said. Nye didn’t respond. “Boots? For hiking in?”

“Those might just be the ugliest shoes I’ve ever seen,” Nye said.

“They’re _practical_ ,” Wary said. “And I’m still mad at you. Drop it.” Nye raised their hands in surrender.

“Are we going right now?” Ivy said.

“Yeah,” Wary said. “If that’s okay with you. I don’t have class until three, so I might as well do this while I have time.”

“Of course,” Ivy said, getting to his feet. “I simply am surprised at your willingness to help.”

“Well,” Wary said. “I want to. Help, that is.” She finally got both her boots on and stood. “Is it alright if I bring my phone and take pictures?  If not, I can do drawings instead.”

“You can draw?” Nye said.

“I just started up again, but I didn’t want to tell anyone about it because it’s been a while. I was really good as a kid—until I ran out of time and energy. It’s not really required for botanists, and these days everyone has a phone with a really good camera, but once I figured out what was going on I realized I might need an analog way to get pictures of plants.” Wary shrugged. “So yeah, I’ve been practicing for the last few months.”

“Your phone is fine,” Ivy said. “So long as you are discreet and do not share the photographs widely. Although—I am not assuming that your art is bad—”

“No worries,” Wary said, grabbing her phone. “Taking pictures is way easier, and I just want them for reference, so I can look stuff up later. If I do think someone else should see them, I’ll ask you first.”

“Time for an adventure!” Nye said. “Woot!” Wary groaned loudly at them.

“I can’t believe you just said ‘woot’.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got two entire kudos and I love positive attention so here's the second chapter early. I don't have enough of a buffer written to do this again, though--I think I'm gonna update weekly? Maybe on Fridays?  
> ALSO several characters used to have different pronoun sets so uhhh if you notice me mispronouning my own damn characters please let me know.


	3. Chapter 3

“This is super weird,” Wary said, peering at Ivy’s tree—or should she just call the tree “Ivy” as well? She wasn’t sure how to ask. “I’ve never seen _anything_ like this before. I’m really not the best person to ask; you mostly just study taxonomy when you’re a Botany undergrad. I’ve taken one class on agriculture, and we talked about some diseases and fungi there, but… Yeah, this isn’t anything I remember from that class. And you’re right, this doesn’t look natural.”

“There are too many straight lines,” Ivy said again, scratching behind one ear.

“I see what you mean,” Wary said. “It’s really geometric. And this is a _really_ bright red. Sure you can see bright red stuff in nature, but that’s pretty eye-searing.”

Nye leaned against Ivy’s tree—Wary decided to think of it that way for now—and Ivy twitched a little.

“I can take photos and compare it to some other stuff,” she continued. “I know some websites that might have lists of all the things it could be. But I really think it’s, uh, you know. Magic.”

“I was afraid you would say that,” Ivy said.

“I’m sorry I can’t help more,” Wary said. “I can try to show it to Professor Mann?” Professor Mann was the main Botany professor at Elsewhere. Wary had never tried to use silver nitrate or Cat Eyes’s glasses to See anything, but she’d eventually gotten suspicious of how many leaves were always stuck in the professor's hair. She’d asked Nye to take a look at her through their glasses (Ray-Bans that they’d gotten Cat Eyes to do a custom job on) and they had agreed to do it. Wary shuddered, remembering the expression on their face after they’d looked.

“No!” Ivy said. Wary jumped, shocked by how loudly he had yelled. “No,” he said, quieter. “The Forest sees through her eyes.” Wary and Nye looked at each other and decided not to ask.

“Okay,” Wary said. “I totally get that. But you’re really, uh, limiting my options here?”

“I am aware,” Ivy said. “My options are limited, as well.”

“Just as long as you know,” Wary said. “And there’s really no one you can go to on your side of things?”

“My mother has a great deal of political power,” Ivy said. “She can block my efforts with little work on her part.”

“Babe, you didn’t tell me you were, like, a prince or something!” Nye said, slinging an arm around Ivy’s waist. Ivy leaned into them.

“Nothing like that,” he said. “I am more like… a Count?”

“Ooh, Lord Ivy!” Nye said, waggling their eyebrows.

“I find it very endearing that you know the correct address for a Count is ‘Lord’,” Ivy said, itching his nose.

 

-

 

“This is hopeless!” Wary said, pushing her chair back from the desk. Nye looked up from the floor.

“What’s hopeless?” they said. Ivy and Nye had gone off together while Wary went to class, but Nye had shown up as soon as she got out. She suspected that they had been waiting outside her classroom. They explained that Ivy had gone home, because he didn’t want to mess with Wary’s computer, but that they would come back to Wary’s room with her. Now they were half-heartedly reading one of Wary’s trashier fantasy novels while she tried to look up plant diseases.

“This database,” Wary said. “It’s completely unusable—it has to be from the early 2000s or something.” She scrolled down to the bottom. “Oh, nope,” she said. “I was wrong.”

“When’s it from?”

“1998!”

“Wow, it’s the same age as us,” Nye said.

“It says it was last updated in… Oh, 2002? That’s not helpful!”

“What the hell kind of database is this, anyway?”

“Deciduous tree diseases of the Northeastern United States,” Wary said. “It would be the right place to look, if it actually functioned. I think I’ve gone through all the relevant pages, but I’m not sure.”

“Any matches?” Nye said, standing and leaning over Wary’s shoulder.

“No,” Wary said, running her hands through her hair.

“It’s gotta be magic,” Nye said.

“Yeah, which means it’s _your_ area of expertise,” Wary said.

“Not really,” Nye said. “You know me, I love to dabble.”

“And hit things with swords.”

“Yeah, that too.”

“I mean, I assume you would have said something before, but have _you_ ever seen something like this?”

“Nah,” Nye said. “But the general patterns and lines and things? Definitely looks like magic to me.”

“Do you know why Ivy can’t go to anyone on his side of things?  Like that one you like, Dr. Sayre?  I don’t mean to pry, I just—well, I guess I’m worried about him.” _And you_ , she thought. She was getting the impression that Nye was pretty serious about this relationship, mostly _because_ she hadn’t heard much about it before now. Nye tended to boast about their flings and keep quiet about the important stuff.

“You and me both,” Nye said. “And I don’t know much more than you. Like he said, his mom’s a big fucking deal. I think she’s basically the dryad representative to the local Royals, or something like that. Kinda the Head Dryad. She made some kind of decision recently that he disagreed with, maybe a political one. He said something one time about it being ‘a matter of ideals’ or something like that. She didn’t handle it well, and they had a big fight. That’s all I know.” Nye looked down. “I didn’t even know until the other day that it meant he was banned from stuff like seeing a doctor. Dammit!”

“Is there someone further away he could go to?” Wary asked.

“No,” Nye said. “I do know that much.  Once a dryad’s fully bonded to their tree they can’t get too far from it. They’re like… born out of the tree once it gets old enough? And then they bond in the first day—after that, they’re pretty closely linked.” They sighed. “I don’t think I could convince someone from farther away to come help, either.”

“You’ve thought about this a lot, haven’t you?” Wary said.

“Yeah,” Nye said.

“You know,” Wary said, “in hindsight, I’m pretty sure my Intro to Bio TA from my first year was Involved. She graduated, but I think she still lives in the area. I could ask her to help out? She might even have studied plant diseases, now that I think about it.” Nye looked up.

“That could work!” they said. “I’ll ask Ivy about it.” They crouched down and reached into their backpack—and yes, Wary could see that their short sword was indeed in there—and pulled out a dried up leaf and a fountain pen. She squinted. Yep, that was a tulip tree leaf. She should know, since she’d spent half the day looking at the things.

“Is that one of Ivy’s leaves? Or his tree’s leaves? What’s the correct terminology there, anyway?”

“He told me to call it his tree,” Nye said. “It’s like… more a part of him than a house, but it isn’t exactly his body either. Sort of like clothing or armor that you never take off. Or a mecha!”

“A mecha?” Wary said. “Seriously?”

“I mean, I guess it depends on what _kind_ of mecha you’re talking about,” Nye said. Wary cleared her throat. “Uh, yeah,” they said. “This is one of his tree’s leaves. And the pen’s ink has some of the tree’s sap in it. I write a message on the leaf, and hey presto! He can sense it.”

“That’s _very_ cool,” Wary said.

“Oh yeah,” Nye said, smirking wickedly. “It can really come in handy, too.” Wary refused to react. “If you know what I mean,” Nye added.

“I know what you mean,” Wary said, smiling in spite of herself. She looked over at Nye as they wrote. “Wow, I always forget how nice your handwriting is,” she said.

“Thanks!” they said. “What’s the TA’s name? Safe name, I mean.”

“Rosethorn,” Wary said.

“Cool.” Nye finished writing, and stared at the leaf.

“Is something supposed to happen?” Wary asked after about a minute.

“Yeah, he’s supposed to write a message back,” Nye said. “Maybe he’s busy.” They frowned and bit their lip. Another minute passed, until Nye stood up suddenly. “I’m going back to my dorm before I start pacing and stressing you out,” they said. “I’ll text you when he replies.”

“Okay,” Wary said. “Sounds like a plan!”

“Yeah,” Nye said, still staring at the leaf as they got their things together.

“Hey,” Wary said. Nye looked up. “It’ll be okay.” Nye nodded and walked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Rosethorn is named after the Circle of Magic character.  
> So you know how I was all like, "Oh yeah, I have a bunch written, this'll be fine"? Well I haven't written anything since I posted the first chapter, school starts up again on Monday, and the first month and a half or so of the semester looks like it's going to be hell on earth. So uh... apologies in advance if I fuck up my shiny new posting schedule?


	4. Chapter 4

Nye finally texted Wary just as she was going to sleep, saying that Ivy was would meet with Rosethorn, and would Friday afternoon or evening work? Luckily, Wary still had Rosethorn’s number, so she fired off a quick text before bed.

She woke up to a reply from Rosethorn (yes she was still in the area, and she could meet on Friday around 7 pm), and twenty-eight messages from her group text for sharing information about Adelaide. It had been inactive for almost a month because there had been nothing new to say; Nye had gotten fed up after a week of inactivity, and had left the group.  They’d told Wary to update them if anything important happened.

_Yeah_ , the last message had said, _one of the more minor beings owes me the answers to three questions. I asked and it’s not normal for someone to disappear without a replacement. They said maybe it’s not magic at all_. No one had responded.

Now the most recent text was a series of exclamation marks from an overenthusiastic girl named Ruby. Wary scrolled up.

_Hey everyone_ , the message from six hours ago said, _I dunno if anyones still checking this but I swear I just saw Addy_

_werent you planning on going out drinking daniel_ , said Fish, about twenty minutes later.

_Yeah but im not drunk yet_ , Daniel had said immediately.

_WHERE_ _R_ _U_ Morticia texted back.

_At a revel_ , Daniel had said.

_WHERE_

_Its private ill text you the address_

_Are you sure it was her?_ Vin added after a few minutes had gone by.

_She’s kinda distinctive-looking_ , Naruto said.

_Its 2am_ _shut the fuck up_ , Edmund said.

_Mute your phone!_ Naruto wrote.

_Fuck you in particular,_ Edmund texted.

_Are you going over, Morticia?_ Vin asked.

_Yeah, OMW RN_

_Send me the address if you want some backup, I’ve got a raging case of insomnia and I’ve gotten a lot better with my daggers_ , Vin had written.

_wjat happened_ , Fish texted, after another twenty minutes.

_She was leaving just as Morticia and I got here, but I’m pretty sure it was her_ , Vin said.

_Not that many redheads with canes on this campus_ , Naruto added.

_Yeah_ , Daniel said.

_Is it rude to mention the cane?_ Vin said. _I feel like that’s rude._

_You forget that I myself am an entire disabled_ , Naruto said.

_LMAO_ , Morticia added.

_so what happened_ , Fish wrote.

_We tried to follow her, but our way was blocked and we were challenged to a danceoff_ , Vin texted. _Unfortunately for our opponents, Morticia is a trained ballerina_.

_She got away tho_ , Morticia said.

_Damn,_ Naruto said. _What now?_

_Fuck if I kno_ , Morticia wrote.

After that, it was silent, until Ruby’s addition of five exclamation marks, which had only come a few minutes ago.

_I’m kinda busy with a different magic thing_ , Wary texted, _but let me know if I can help!!_

She was worried about Adelaide, but Ivy was the priority, since his situation was new and Adelaide had been missing for months. Still, the thought of Adelaide wandering lost around a revel with mysterious beings keeping her friends from contacting her… She wasn’t the most practical or careful person. Adelaide was the kind of person who forgot to turn her computer screen away from her roommate while she read an email from her parents. Wary was pretty sure that she knew Adelaide’s true name because of an email she'd seen, although she’d never said anything about it. She shook her head. Hopefully, the whole Ivy situation would get figured out by Friday, and she could work on finding Adelaide after that.

Wary’s Monday, Wednesday, and Friday classes started in the morning, with Plant Anatomy at 9:30 am, so she didn’t have time to linger. Especially since, she realized, she hadn’t finished her homework the night before. She scrambled to do it while chewing on a cereal bar and pulling on her clothes. Luckily, most of her clothing went together—she’d gotten tired of how hard it was to find plus size clothing that she could mix and match into various outfits, and had sunk a big piece of her savings into putting together a decent, matching wardrobe a year ago—so finding something to wear didn’t take too long. She ran out the door and all the way across campus, sliding into a seat in Plant Anatomy just as Professor Mann started her lecture. The leaves in her hair today looked like they came from an oak, and her eyes were even more glazed that usual. Wary shivered.

After Plant Anatomy, she only had a quick break for an early lunch before Organic Chemistry. She grabbed a bag of chips from a vending machine, making a mental note to eat a large and balanced dinner to make up for her breakfast and lunch.

She felt her phone buzz during Organic Chemistry, but she was sitting in the front row, and the teacher was a grad student who was that particular type of insecure that meant he had strict classroom rules. Wary fidgeted as it buzzed again and again, thinking about all the horrible things that could be happening, between Adelaide and Ivy. She finally decided that she had to check, so she went to the bathroom, sneaking her phone along in her pocket. She had one text from the group, and six from Nye, the first of which they had sent seventeen minutes ago.

_wary_ , they said, _you know first aid, right?_

_oh shit youre in that class where you cant check your phone arent you_

_it gets out at like 1 right_

_if you see this once you get out can you come to ivys tree_ _i_ _went to pick him up for our date and hes throwing up a lot_

_he wont admit that its bad but it is_

_please come as soon as you can_

The last message was from six minutes ago.

“Fuck!” Wary said, running back to class, phone in hand. “Gottagosorry!” she told the teacher as she grabbed her bag. He yelled something after her, but she was already in the hallway.

Luckily, Organic Chemistry was in a building fairly near Ivy’s grove. It took Wary about ten minutes to get there, mostly because she had to slow down partway through to catch her breath—she was tired from running to class earlier that morning.

“Shitshitshit,” she chanted as she sped up again. Her stomach sank—she could see a body on the ground ahead. Someone with dark, curly hair, lying on their side. Wary tripped over a root and stumbled, falling to her knees next to Ivy. “Please don’t be dead,” she said, reaching to take his pulse.

“I am not dead,” he said, opening his eyes. “I am just resting.” Wary burst into a fit of giggles. “What?” Ivy said. “What is so amusing to you?” Wary tried to explain about Monty Python, but she couldn’t stop laughing.

“Sorry, sorry,” she finally choked out. “It’s a human thing, I guess.” Ivy didn’t look convinced. “Anyway,” Wary said, “how are you feeling now? Where’s Nye?”

“Right here,” Nye said from behind Wary. She jumped and turned. They walked out of the trees, wearing their enchanted sunglasses and carrying their sword openly on their hip. The dappled light of the forest rested oddly on them, making it seem like their form was shifting slightly. Wary squinted.

“What’s the first thing you said to me when we met?” she said.

“I was very very drunk,” Nye said, walking towards her where she was still crouching over Ivy. “And I said, ‘Wow, you’re tall!’”

“Really?” Ivy said.

“Yeah,” Wary said. “They did. Sorry, Nye, you know how it is.”

“I know,” they said, coming to stand behind her. “I’m sorry,” they said to Ivy. “Whoever it was, I didn’t catch them.”

“Good,” Ivy said. “I would not want you to get hurt fighting for me.”

“Whoever _what_ was?” Wary said.

“Someone ran away from the grove right when I got here,” Nye said. “Ivy was puking so he didn’t see them. I made sure he was okay and put him on his side—you’re supposed to do that, right?”

“Yeah,” Wary said.

“And then I went after them,” Nye said. “But whoever it was, they were long gone.” They sighed. “Are you feeling better?”

“I believe so,” Ivy said, beginning to sit up. Wary moved to get a hand behind his back to help him. “I am beginning to feel rather hungry, actually. I suppose I have lost everything that was in my—oh, one moment.” He turned his head away from Wary and Nye, rolling further to the side. He then vomited, body heaving violently. Wary started to feel nauseated, but she kept holding him up, and craned her head to look. He was just puking fluid at this point—he must have been right when he started to say he’d thrown up everything in his stomach—but at least there wasn’t blood in it.

“Ivy!” Nye said. Ivy held a hand up.

“My apologies for that,” he said, his voice rough. “I fear I am not as recovered as I believed.”

“You don’t need to apologize,” Wary said. “It’s okay.”

“Nothing about this is okay,” Nye said. Ivy looked up at them with wide eyes. “Not you,” they said, beginning to pace. “This whole… thing! You’re sick and you have to go to _humans_ for help because your mom is—”

“Shh!” Ivy said. “I do not recommend speaking ill of my mother under the shade of these trees.” He coughed and spat off to the side, some of it dribbling down his chin. He wiped it away with the sleeve of his shirt and then grimaced.

“What do you do for someone who keeps throwing up?” Nye asked Wary, quieter now.

“Watch them,” she said. “Try to get them to keep fluids down. If they can’t, go to the Emergency Room.”

“I am afraid that last option is off the table,” Ivy said.

“Yeah, no shit,” Nye said.

“This is kind of awkward,” Wary said, “but uh… how close to human are you, physically?”

“Very,” Ivy said, and Nye was unable to keep from snickering a little. Wary rolled her eyes at them. “Dryads are considered to be almost human, which I am sure you can imagine is not an asset in our society, although we also posses some advantages that other beings lack.  Human remedies should work on me, aside from the obvious.”

“Yeah, no IV saline, huh?” Wary said. “I mean, besides the fact that you can’t go somewhere they’d give it to you anyway.”

“Precisely,” Ivy said.

“Okay,” Wary said. “But your body needs hydration and food just like a human’s? And your tree needs the same stuff that a normal tree needs?”

“Correct.”

“Well you’re not going to find rehydration drinks out here in the woods,” Wary said. “You should come back to one of our dorms.”

“Can’t do mine,” Nye said. “It’s too heavily protected.”

“Really?” Wary said, surprised.

“Yeah,” Nye said. “It’s kind of a problem in our relationship, but there are too many people after me, you know?”

“We have found ways to make it work,” Ivy said.

“How about my room?” Wary asked. “I don’t have very heavy-duty protections up. I could take them down pretty easily.” Nye and Ivy looked at each other for a while, having one of those silent conversations that couples had sometimes.

“I believe that will work,” Ivy said. “You have my gratitude.”

“It’s not a problem,” Wary said. “I don’t really need those protections up anyway—no one bothers with me. Now the only problem is, how are we going to get you all the way across campus?”

“Not a problem,” Nye said, kneeling next to Ivy. They slid one arm under his knees and another around his shoulders. “Put your arms around my neck,” they said. Ivy did, and Nye stood without any obvious effort, holding Ivy bridal style. Wary raised her eyebrows.

“Wow,” she said.

“I wear full-body plate armor when I’m on quests,” Nye said. “Carrying beautiful men around is nothing in comparison.” Ivy groaned and hid his head against Nye’s shoulder. Wary was pretty that was from the embarrassment, not the nausea.

 

-

 

“Okay,” Wary said, clapping her hands together. “I think that’s everything.” She’d swept up the salt into a dustpan, and taken down the charms Nye had gotten for her; they made a pitifully small pile on her desk.

“Thanks for doing this,” Nye said, carrying Ivy into Wary’s room. “You okay?” they asked Ivy after they crossed the threshold.

“Yes,” Ivy said. “I am fine. All of the protections are down.” Nye gently settled him onto Wary’s bed. “I do not know how much comfort this is,” he said, “but my presence may serve as a small deterrent against intruders. While I do not have a great deal of power, some beings may think that you are under my protection for as long as I dwell here. It is not as effective as salt or charms, but…”

“It’s fine,” Wary said. “Really. I can manage. Let me just text Rosethorn and ask if there’s any way she can come to see you earlier. I don’t think you should wait until Friday.” She pulled her phone out. “Crap! Did either of you happen to grab some of Ivy’s leaves that had the weird pattern on them?” Ivy and Nye shook their heads. “It’s always hard to ID this kind of thing from photos,” Wary said. “It’d be better if we could show Rosethorn some of the actual leaves. Nye or I should go back and grab some.”

“I can do it,” Nye said.

“Really?” Wary said. “I mean…” She looked at Ivy.

“I need to go and do something productive,” Nye said.

“I understand,” Ivy said. “I am fully aware that you are not the type to pine by my bedside.” Wary snorted—that was an understatement.

“Pine!” Nye said. “That’s a pun. Get it? Pine? It’s a tree?” Wary and Ivy glanced at each other and then rolled their eyes at Nye.

“Truly you are the soul of wit,” Ivy said.

“Okay,” Wary said. “I’ll just, uh, go out in the hall to text Rosethorn?” She left, closing the door to her room behind her. Nye said something, but the door muffled it and Wary couldn’t make it out.

_Hey Rosethorn_ , she typed. _The tree is in pretty bad shape. Is there any way you could come today or tomorrow? Sorry to be a bother but I think it’s urgent_.

_Shit, dude_ , Rosethorn replied a few minutes later. _I super can’t, there’s this whole deal I’m still paying off for three days every month and I won’t be done until Friday. Have you asked Prof Mann? She’s weird but hey desperate times… I can still make Friday though. I’m sorry, I know this is_ _time-sensitive._

_Professor Mann isn’t an option_ , Wary said. _I’m sure we can make it to Friday, though, don’t worry too much!!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do I have little backstories/bios for every single one of those background characters from the group chat? Abso-fucking-lutely.  
> ETA: There isn't going to be a chapter on February 2nd, because I've been in rehearsals/performances for a huge dance concert and have not fixed several problems with Chapter Five that have to get fixed before I post it.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha whoops guess who forgot she was writing this fic? And after I remembered, I realized that the chapter I'd written to be Chapter 5 actually needed to wait, because I hadn't properly been setting up an aspect of the climax. So here's the new Chapter 5, which I'm posting now because I keep spacing out and not posting it when I mean to.  
> Also I made a super minor wording change in Chapter 2.

Nye trudged across campus, kicking a rock along the pathway. Wary’s dorm was just about as far from Ivy’s grove as you could get while still being on campus, and Elsewhere University covered a lot of land.

“Wish Wary’d thought of the leaf thing before we got to her fucking _dorm_ ,” they muttered, giving the rock an especially vicious kick.

“What was that?” someone said. Nye looked up and saw a wide-eyed firstie, who might as well have been wearing a sign that said, “Kick me, I’m not Involved”. Their student ID was still on a lanyard, for fuck’s sake! It was almost the end of the schoolyear!

“Not talking to you,” Nye said. The firstie shrugged and went on their way, and Nye gave the rock such a hard kick that it skittered off the path and into a decorative bush. _Was I ever that innocent?_ they thought. _I figured out what was going on fast, so I guess I wasn’t innocent like_ that _. But I used to think this was all a fun little adventure, Lady Knight Nye riding about on quests and doing good…_ They sighed. _Now I’m just being melodramatic._ They made finger guns at Jimothy as it drifted by, and it made finger guns back at them. _At least the eldritch tooth abomination thinks I’m cool. Unless it’s making fun of me or some shit. Still seems weird that it gives its teeth away_.

They saw another rock on the path ahead, bigger and rounder than the one they’d been kicking around before. They drew back their leg to start kicking this one, but before they made contact, it sprouted little feet and skittered away. Nye stared as it ran through the grass.

“Nope,” they said. “Not dealing with that shit. No more rocks tonight.”

The sun started to go down as Nye approached the edge of campus, where Ivy’s grove was. They tugged their denim jacket a little tighter, wishing they had their full armor. A few of the buttons and patches on their jacket were enchanted to protect them, but there was nothing like plate armor to turn you into a fuckin’ tank. They glanced around—no one was nearby, or at least no unInvolved people that Nye could see. Still… They reached up to the tangle of necklaces they wore and grabbed one that looked sort of like a small glowstick on a string, if glowsticks came in grey instead of neon colors. They bent the tube between their hands until they heard it crack; once it did, they reached into their backpack and pulled out their sword.

“Really gotta name you someday,” they said to the weapon in their hands. “Like all the famous heroes do, yanno.” The sword did not reply, which Nye was grateful for. They were not at a point in their life where they could deal with their sword talking to them.

The charm they’d activated wasn’t for full invisibility—that was pricey, and tricky besides—but it made people see what they expected to see. If someone who observed Nye at that moment was unInvolved, they’d probably expect to see an average college student, maybe carrying a baseball bat or a lacrosse stick. Maybe a foam LARPing sword, if the observer was kind of a nerd. If they were Involved, they might just see a harmless person with a sword, unless they knew who Nye was. Then, they’d see a dangerous person. With a sword.

Nye walked on, their sword dangling loosely in their hand. They had a scabbard for it somewhere—probably buried in a pile of random shit under their bed—but it was easier to just stash it in their pack most of the time. They were good enough with the thing that they weren’t too worried about accidentally stabbing themself. Still, they probably should dig the thing out at some point. If nothing else, it looked cool.

They stepped into the grove of tulip trees and looked around nervously. They were still feeling twitchy about that person they’d seen running away earlier, especially since neither Wary nor Ivy had seen whomever it was. That might mean that the person had some concealment spells, or it might mean that Nye was finally going crazy. They felt like it was probably fifty-fifty odds.

Something rustled in the undergrowth, and Nye’s grip on their sword tightened. They started to walk slowly towards the place they thought the sound was coming from, going as quietly as possible. It helped that their boots had charms for treading lightly and muffling noise woven into the shoelaces, but Nye still heard some leaves crunch under their feet. They continued forward, hearing another noise ahead of them.

A rabbit jumped out of some bushes. Nye sighed.

 _Wait_ , they thought. _Shit. This is totally the part in the horror movie where the hot chick relaxes but then there’s something behind—_ They spun around, but there was nothing behind them. It really did look like the grove was deserted. Ivy had told Nye that while dryads loved their trees, they also liked having things like running water and soft beds, so no one really lived in the grove.

 _That’s it_ , Nye thought. _I’m getting those leaves and then getting the hell out of here_.


	6. Chapter 6

One advantage of temporarily housing a dryad, Wary found, was that he was really helpful with her homework. After she’d mixed up some sugar water (which was what passed for a rehydration drink with dryads, apparently), given Ivy salt-free crackers (courtesy of a very obvious changeling down the hall), and set the trash can next to the bed in case he needed to puke again, she’d settled in to write a response paper on one of her readings. She had printed out the reading earlier, and she wrote the response paper by hand—Elsewhere professors were very understanding, and always accepted handwritten work. Ivy had sat up in bed and peered over her shoulder, and soon he was offering her tips. With his help, Wary caught up on all the work she’d neglected over the past few days by bedtime. Nye came by at one point to drop off the leaves they’d collected, and Wary had had to tell them that Rosethorn couldn’t come any earlier. They’d kicked her bureau and stormed out, without saying anything to Ivy. It was probably for the best—Nye was always jittery and energetic in a crisis, and Wary got the feeling that Ivy couldn’t handle that right now, even if he could most of the time. She _assumed_ he could, since their relationship seemed to be working pretty well.

Ivy tried to be noble and give up the bed, but Wary reminded him firmly that he was the sick one, and besides, she had a camping pad that she kept stashed under her bed for when she and Nye had sleepovers. It wasn’t the most comfortable thing in the world, since it was thin and the floor was hard, but Wary was tired and she fell asleep quickly.

 

-

 

Wary’s eyes opened to an unfamiliar scene. She looked around, disoriented for a moment, before she remembered that she was in her dorm room, sleeping on the floor. It only looked strange because she’d never seen her room from that angle before now.

_What time is it?_ she thought, sitting up to look at the clock. _Ugh, 3 am. Why am I awake?_ She started to lie down again, but heard something. It sounded almost like tree branches scraping the window, and sure there _were_ trees near her dorm, but they’d never made that noise before. _Oh that can’t_ possibly _be_ _a_ _good_ _sign_ , Wary thought, slowly turning to look behind her. She jumped, and made an embarrassing squeaky noise before hurriedly covering her mouth.

There was someone—or some _thing_ —crouching on the windowsill. It was humanoid, and its head was pointed towards Ivy. There was some kind of stick on its back—a weapon? Wary frantically catalogued everything she had that she could defend herself with. The protective charms were still on her desk; she could grab them in less than a second, but she didn’t know how fast the creature in the window moved. Her multitool was also on the desk, but the knife on it was small and she didn’t think her chances of doing any damage with it were good. Wary had the sudden, inane thought that she was grateful not to have a roommate this year; that would’ve made this situation even _worse_.

The moon came out from behind a cloud. Wary could see more of the creature’s face; it had a small nose and a sharp jaw. In fact, it looked familiar.

“Addy?” Wary said quietly, not wanting to wake Ivy. The creature’s head whipped around to look at her.

“Wary,” it whispered, in Adelaide’s voice.

“What was your childhood cat’s name?” Wary said.

“Trick question,” it said. “I didn’t have one. I had a dog, and her name was Daisy. What was our first fight as roommates about?”

“Our decorations clashed,” Wary said. “Yours were dark red and mine were olive green. We fought over who should change their side of the room, but neither one of us was willing to do it. We left everything up where it was, but as time went on, we both started taking down the stuff that clashed the worst. Where have you _been?_ ”

“Oh, you know,” Adelaide said. “Here, there, everywhere. Nowhere. Elsewhere.”

“Everyone’s been looking for you!” Wary said. She realized that she had started speaking loudly, and brought herself back down to a whisper. “People don’t just disappear without replacements.”

“I didn’t disappear,” Adelaide said. “I _left_.”

“To do what?” Wary said.

“Stuff,” Adelaide said. Wary could almost hear the pout in her voice, like she was a little kid who’d been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

“That’s not helpful! And why are you here, anyway? Why did you pick _me_ to visit after being gone for so long? I thought Edmund was your best friend, why aren’t you lurking on _his_ windowsill?”

“I didn’t pick _you_ to visit,” Adelaide said, looking back to Ivy.

“You’re here for him? Do you know him?”

“Not as well as I’d like.”

“What does that _mean?_ ” Wary said. “Why are you being so mysterious? Stop trying to be all cool and spooky, you dweeb! I’ve _seen_ you cry about Doctor Who!”

“You shouldn’t have gotten close to him,” Adelaide said, looking at Ivy. Wary stood, and reached towards the desk. She wasn’t sure if she was going for the knife or the protective charms—would either work?

“Addy? Are you threatening him?” she said. Adelaide laughed and turned around; Wary could see that the “weapon” on her back was just her cane, strapped into the back sheath she’d made for when she needed her hands free.

“That’s for me to know and you to find out,” Adelaide said.

Then she jumped out of the window. _We’re on the fifth floor!_ Wary thought, rushing forward. Her feet got tangled in the blankets she’d been using, and she tripped over her pillow, landing next to the trash can she’d placed by the bed. Ivy had _definitely_ used it at some point in the night—now that she thought about it, Wary had a faint memory of waking up when he did. She was glad she hadn’t fallen on the trash can. She stood back up and kicked the blankets away, then walked towards the windowsill. Wary looked down.

Something moved by the corner of the dorm building, and Wary thought it could be Adelaide walking away—with the cane and the limp, she had a recognizable gait. Wary frowned. Was it just her imagination, or were the branches of the trees near her dorm closer than usual?

“What was _that_ about?” Wary yelled after the vanishing figure.

“I gather I missed something?” said a voice behind her. She jumped and made another embarrassing squeaky noise.

“Ivy!” she said. He had propped himself up on one arm and was looking at the window. “I’m sorry I woke you up.”

“I was beginning to stir anyway,” Ivy said. “Did I hear voices?”

“Yeah,” Wary said, sitting at her desk and turning on the little lamp she kept above her computer. “There’s this whole other situation going on besides yours, with my friend who’s missing.”

“Tell me,” Ivy said. “I would enjoy hearing about a problem that I am not involved in.” _Well,_ Wary thought, _you actually might be_.

“My roommate in my first year was this girl named Adelaide,” Wary said. “I think she picked that name because she’d gone to Australia once with her family, and she really liked it there.” Ivy cocked his head.

“Adelaide is, like, a city or something in Australia,” Wary explained. “Anyway, we weren’t besties or anything, but we got along pretty well. She disappeared early last October, but there wasn’t a replacement, and no one seemed to know anything. A group of us—some people who knew her—have tried to find her or to dig up information. We haven’t had much luck, because everyone just told us that if she’d disappeared without a replacement, it might not be magic at all. But today, or technically yesterday, Daniel saw her at a revel. He was our RA in our first year. And then just now she uh… Well she showed up in the window.”

“We are on the fifth floor,” Ivy said.

“Yeah. And she was acting really weird and then she _jumped_ —and like she has problems with her hips and her back and she walks with a cane, so. Jumping out of fifth-floor windows isn’t something she would normally do. Plus I think the tree branches are closer than usual.” Wary looked down at her lap. “Ugh.”

“Wary?” Ivy said. She looked up again. “There is something I have been meaning to—oh dear.” He gestured urgently at her, and she rushed to hand him the trash can. He began to cough, then started heaving. Wary looked away and concentrated very hard on reading the spines of the books on her shelf. _Hm_ , she thought. _I might be due for another_ Flora Segunda _re-read_. She noticed that she’d re-shelved a few of her October Daye books out of order, so she rearranged them. The noises behind her stopped after a few minutes.

“You alright?” she asked, turning back around.

“There is something uniquely pathetic about vomiting in a dorm room trash can,” Ivy said.

“Yeah,” Wary said. “I should empty that out. I layered a bunch of bags, so I don’t think it’ll leak, but I don’t wanna risk it. Do you, uh, think you’re going to throw up again?”

“I do not feel nauseated right now,” Ivy said. “I believe I may have ‘gotten it out of my system’ for the moment.”

“Okay,” Wary said. “I feel kinda bad about this, but I think I’m just going to wrap the… contents of the trash can in a few more bags, and then put it all in the bathroom trash can. They’ll empty it tomorrow morning anyway, so it’s probably fine, and it’s not like that’s the grossest thing that’s ever been in that bathroom.” Ivy snorted, and Wary went to turn on the overhead light.

“Your help has been invaluable,” he said. “You are very kind.” Wary flapped her hand at him. “I must confess,” he said, “that I am curious as to why you are so comfortable with this kind of situation. Especially, ah, handling the vomit.”

“I used to throw up a lot when I was younger,” Wary said. “Uh, not for the reasons you might assume.” Ivy tilted his head and raised his eyebrows. “You know,” Wary said, “a fat girl saying she used to throw up a lot…”

“Oh!” Ivy said. “No, no, I was not assuming anything at all.”

“Okay, cool,” Wary said. “But yeah, I had a lot of health problems when I was a kid.” She flicked on the light switch and walked back to the bed. “Anyway, I have a bunch of plastic shopping bags that I can use, and…” She looked down at the trash can. “Uh, Ivy?”

“Yes?”

“We may have a problem. Is your blood red?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> o shit this fic actually has a plot lmao


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU READ THE CHAPTER  
> So you know how I said in the tags that I might have to edit earlier parts as the story went on? We've hit that point. Nothing really major has been altered, but some smaller plot points and characters have changed and require more setup than I'd originally written. So as of this chapter (Chapter 7) I've added some tidbits to previous chapters, and tweaked a few things so they sound better. You can technically get through the whole fic without re-reading, as long as you're willing to go with the flow a little, but starting with Chapter 8, things'll make a lot more sense if you do. If you don't have the time/energy for a re-read but desperately want to know what changed, I can tell you in the comments--however, seeing the pieces isolated like that may make future developments more obvious than they would otherwise be.  
> Also, let me know if any of the formatting got screwed up because I changed stuff! I think I fixed it all but I may have missed something.  
> Anyway, knock yourselves out!

The answer to Wary’s question was, unfortunately, yes. Ivy _did_ bleed red, and thatwas blood in his vomit. It was all bright red, which Wary thought might mean he’d just hurt his throat or mouth from puking. She wasn’t sure, but she thought it was one of those things where if the blood was bright you shouldn’t worry, but if it was dark, you should. And there wasn’t very much, just a few streaks, but that was still scary. Even when she’d been at her sickest as a kid, she’d never thrown up so much that she started bleeding.

“Maybe you’re just prone to this?” Wary said as the two of them stared at the trash can. “Like how some people get a lot of nosebleeds, and some people don’t get any.”

“No,” Ivy said. “I do not believe I am prone to bleeding after vomiting profusely, although I admit I have not had much chance to test this theory.” He sighed and ran a hand over his face. Wary poked the side of the trash can with her toe.

“Should I be freaking out?” Wary said.

“Most likely,” Ivy said. “This does rather seem like a situation where we ought to be alarmed.” The two of them stared at the trash can some more. Ivy yawned, and Wary glanced over at the clock. It was about 3:30 am by now.

“D’you want me to call Nye?” Wary said, somewhat reluctantly. “They texted me to say they left their ringer on.”

“I would prefer to just… deal with this in the morning,” Ivy said, after a long pause. “I want to go back to sleep.”

“Okay,” Wary said. She felt like she should insist that the two of them try to fix this now, that it could get worse if he went back to sleep. After all, that was what a real doctor would do. _Well_ , Wary corrected herself, remembering some aspects of her childhood, _that’s what a_ good _real doctor would do_.

She wasn’t a doctor, not at all, and she had no interest in being one of those inspirational cancer survivor kids who ended up going into a medical profession. But in a way, Wary was acting like she was Nye’s doctor, and she kind of felt like she had a responsibility to hold herself to those standards. Still, she was really tired, and he’d said he’d rather wait, so… Wary bundled up the contents of the trash can, grimacing slightly, and rushed to dump the bundle of plastic bags in the bathroom trash. By the time she got back, Ivy was already asleep.

_That settles it_ , Wary thought as she quietly put more plastic bags in her trash can. _I’m not going to wake him back up just so I can poke hi_ _m._ She turned off the lights and got back in bed, glancing at the clock and sighing when she thought about how tired she would be when she woke up later. _I hope it’s okay that we’re waiting until the morning_ , Wary thought as she drifted off.

 

-

 

In the morning, Ivy was worse. Wary had thought that he was tired, or just not a morning person, so it didn’t seem too strange that he didn’t get up when she turned the lights on and started bustling around. But once she started making a lot of noise rummaging through her closet, Wary thought Ivy ought to have moved around or said something. He was polite, he’d probably wish her good morning once he was awake. Wary turned to the bed.

Now that she looked properly, Ivy didn’t seem like he was doing very well. His eyes were partway open, so she didn’t think he was asleep, but he didn’t seem like he was totally conscious. She grabbed his hand—it was clammy.

“Ivy?” she said. He made a vague, questioning noise, which was a relief. At least he was responding to her. She looked at the trash can—there was more bright red blood, and some brown stuff—he’d probably eaten more crackers at some point. “Right,” Wary said. “I’m skipping class and I’m calling Nye right now.” She grabbed her phone and went into the hall, since she was worried that Ivy’s presence might mess with the signal or the electricity or something.

“Mrgh?” Nye said when they picked up. They were very much _not_ a morning person.

“Ivy’s in really bad shape,” Wary said. “He doesn’t seem to be totally conscious and he’s really clammy. Also…” She took a deep breath. “Also he threw up some blood last night.”

“ _What?_ ”

“It was bright red, and I think that means it’s just his mouth or throat or something bleeding, and he just wanted to go back to bed and not deal with it, so—” Wary sighed as Nye hung up on her—she’d been expecting that. She went back to her room and tried to coax some more of the sugar water into Ivy; he didn’t try to spit it out, and he didn’t puke, so that was probably a good sign. She’d just about gotten to the bottom of the bottle she’d mixed when Nye stormed in.

“Ivy?” they said.

“Hey,” Ivy said. Wary turned and looked at him, surprised. He was looking a little better—she hadn’t noticed before, but he’d been pale earlier, and now there was more color in his face. His eyes were most of the way open, and focused on Nye. “I am feeling better now,” he said. “I believe I may have become a bit dehydrated in the night. Your help has been—” He frowned. “That is to say, I believe that—” He paused, and looked at Wary. “Thank you, Wary.”

_Oh crap_ , Wary thought. _Don’t react, don’t react, don’t embarrass him by showing that you know that it’s a big deal, oh my god, I can’t believe one of_ them _just said “thank you” to me_. Nye twitched violently.

“Of course!” Wary said, hoping this was the right reaction. She knew saying “thank you” was a big deal, but _why_ had she never tried to figure out what to do if someone _did_ say it? Were there rules for that? There probably were. She needed to look this up as soon as possible, especially if Nye and Ivy were going to keep dating. “You don’t need to worry about it.” No one started yelling or crying or trying to stab her, so Wary thought she’d probably done the best she could, under the circumstances.

Nye and Ivy started making pretty intense eye contact, so Wary slipped out to text the group chat about Adelaide. She knew that she couldn’t tell them everything, because letting them know she was sheltering a sick dryad in her room probably wouldn’t go well. But they cared about Adelaide, to varying degrees—Edmund was Adelaide’s best friend, whereas Ruby was just in the chat because she’d seen her leaving the dorm the day she disappeared—and they all deserved to know at least part of the truth. Wary opened the group chat and started at it for a long few minutes.

_Hey everyone!!_ Wary finally wrote. _So this is weird but I saw Addy last night. She was acting_ _funny_ _but I don’t think she was really hurt or in trouble? I think she’s really Involved in something but she didn’t say what. It sounded like whatever it is, she’s doing it of her own free will, so?? I guess she’s okay. Or as okay as she can be_.

Wary sent the message, watching it go through in two parts. She powered down her phone, not wanting to deal with answering any questions, and headed to the bathroom to make another batch of the sugar water. _I wonder if there are any pre-med students around who would be willing to try and hook up an IV of this stuff_ , she thought as she stirred the sugar in. _There must be someone, Nye might know_.

 

-

 

Nye did know some people, as it turned out, but they were worried that things were getting too serious for a human doctor.

“If I have told you once, I have told you a thousand times,” Ivy was saying as Wary walked back into her room, carrying the full water bottle. “No one on this side of the continent will help me, not even your favorite doctor; the risk of offending my mother is too great.”

“Isn’t there anyone who doesn’t care about politics?” Nye said. “You know, some kind of underground rebels or something.”

“If there are people like that, I am not aware of how to contact them,” Ivy said. “I am afraid that I do not tend to associate with that sort of person, present company excluded.”

“My goody two-shoes,” Nye said, kissing the back of Ivy’s hand. Ivy smiled at them.

“Maybe you should go ahead and try to talk to the humans you know,” Wary said. “I mean, I’m trying to help, but this is getting a lot more serious than I can deal with. I don’t just mean medical expertise, I mean emotionally too.” She wondered if she should also say that Adelaide seemed to be up to something involving Ivy, and that they might need to deal with that, but decided it wasn’t as important right now.

Nye stared at her for a moment, then blinked and ran a hand through their hair.

“Right,” they said. “Yeah, right, sorry. This is totally asking too much of you with, you know, your childhood and stuff. I get that.” They hunched their shoulders up.

“I didn’t mean I’m kicking you two out,” Wary said, a little exasperated by Nye’s reaction. “I want to help, and of course Ivy can stay here. But I barely remember my first aid class by now, and I’m really far out of my depth. You need to get someone here who knows more than I do.” She handed the bottle of sugar water to Ivy, who started to sit up. Nye rushed to help him, propping him up against the pillows. They sat on the bed and took the water bottle, gently helping Ivy drink from it.

“Yeah, okay,” Nye said. “Uh, lemme see. I guess I could try Eric—no wait, shit, he’s abroad this semester. I keep forgetting that. Violetta could work, except ze hates me, and ze doesn’t even owe me a favor anymore, so I don’t have that to hold over hir head… Hm. I might have an idea.”

“Is your idea dangerous?” Ivy said.

“Of course not!” Nye said cheerfully, maintaining careful eye contact with Ivy and holding very still.


	8. Chapter 8

_This_ _is_ so _fucking dangerous_ , Nye thought as they left Wary’s dorm building. _I’_ _m going to be in_ such _deep shit even if I_ _can_ _pull this off._ _I’ll be lucky if I don’t die._

Nye looked around for a convenient rock to kick, but didn’t see anything. Ah well, at least if they died it would probably be later. They could pull all this off before then, and Ivy would be better. Dying after that wouldn’t be the best thing in the world, but it wouldn’t be the worst.

They jogged along the path to Whitehall Dorm, where they’d lived during their first year. Adelaide and Wary had been on the same hall as Nye, but the three of them hadn’t all met until the fire alarm went off a few weeks into the first semester. For once, it wasn’t someone’s popcorn, weed, or incense to _cover_ the weed that was setting the alarm off. Instead, there was a _real fucking fire_ with smoke and flames and everything, on the second floor. A lot of the students hadn’t realized it was serious until they got outside, and then all they could do was mill around and worry about whether or not the fire would spread to their rooms. (It had mostly stayed on the second floor, and Nye, Wary, and Adelaide were on the first, so their shit was fine. Weirdly, the fire hadn’t traveled too far upwards, which seemed like it went against everything that fires normally stood for.) Nye had woken up before the alarm started blaring—there was a little warning “click” first—and managed to get their most important stuff out, so they figured they might as well go lie down on a bench and nap. Wary had come over, all but carrying Adelaide, and asked if Nye could move over so the two of them could sit; Adelaide had panicked and left her cane behind in their room and was starting to have a hard time staying upright. (Naturally, her pain meds were right next to her cane, back in the currently-on-fire building.) The three of them had started talking, which meant that when Nye ran into either one, they’d chat. Eventually, Nye and Wary became best friends; Nye and Adelaide had never really clicked, although they still hung out.

But Nye wasn’t going to Whitehall now because of any of that. They were going because of what was in the basement.

It was early in the day, so their keycard worked, thank goodness—some of the dorms wouldn’t let you in later in the day if you didn’t live there, and Nye always forgot which ones were which. They hung a right and walked through three halls (including their old one, which smelled horrifically of blue cheese nowadays) until they got to a staircase. There were plenty of staircases in Whitehall, and they all went down to the basement, but only this one would take Nye to the part they needed. (Naturally, there were no elevators. Mentioning this to Adelaide was a super-fun way to get her to rant for fifteen minutes about inaccessibility in higher education, which could actually be pretty interesting to listen to, if you weren’t busy. At least, it _was_ a great way to get her to rant before she went missing. Nye wondered if she was okay—they weren’t in the group chat because they’d gotten annoyed with the lack of action, but Wary had promised to tell them if there was news.)

Nye looked at the staircase for a long moment, then whirled away to kick the wall.

“Fuck!”

They went down the stairs like a normal person (hah!) until they were almost to the bottom, with three more steps to go before they reached a dark green door. Then, they bent their knees and jumped, skipping those three steps and landing on the basement floor in a crouch. With their charmed boots on, they barely made a sound, just kind of a puff like a really quiet fart. Or something. When they looked up, the door was orange.

Nye slung their backpack forward and unzipped it, pulling out their sword. They didn’t need to bother with their illusion charm, since it was unlikely they were going to run into any unInvolved people in this _particular_ part of the basement.

They opened the door; as always, it was dead silent, even though its rusty hinges looked like they should be horror-movie-level creaky. Right now, that would’ve suited their mood. Past the door was a plain concrete corridor that looked exactly like the more… _normal_ version of Whitehall’s basement. The main difference was that the floor of this corridor was covered in socks.

It was common knowledge among students of Elsewhere University that the Whitehall laundry machines ate way more socks than the other laundry machines on campus. A Statistics major had ended up doing an independent study on it, and had scientifically proven that Whitehall machines were very likely to lose people’s socks. In fact, it was so bad that Whitehall residents bought cheap packs of plain socks at the stores in town and put a single sock at a time in with each load of laundry as a sacrifice. It mostly worked. UnInvolved students assumed that it was something about the design of the machines in Whitehall, or the way they balanced on the floor. Mostly, they chalked it up to one of those weird quirks of life. Involved students figured it was something like laundry machine gremlins, because why the hell not? Those might as well exist.

But really, it was just because Dr. Sayre had a weird sense of humor.

At first it might seem like the socks on the floor weren’t arranged in any specific pattern, but if you stared long enough, you might notice that they looked kind of like a maze. An unusually shaped maze, since it had to fit in the narrow corridors, but one that held its share of twists and turns. Nye knew from experience that the path to the right was longer, but much easier to navigate, while the one to the left was fast but difficult.

They turned left.

 

-

 

After fifteen minutes, one recitation of a weird-ass story they had made up to keep the turns for the left-hand maze straight, and three corners that should gave been impossible given Whitehall’s layout, Nye was just a few steps away from the end of the maze. They knew that their destination was just around the corner, but first they had to get ready to see the doctor. They sighed and bit their lip, looking back over their shoulder, then swallowed hard.

Nye rolled up the sleeve of their jacket and slashed the back of their forearm with their sword. It was a shallow cut, but they got enough blood out of it to cover their hands and leave a smear on their shirt. (Thank fuck they’d pulled on a white T-shirt today. Although, they noticed as they looked down, it meant that their dark purple sports bra had _definitely_ been showing the whole time.) They tied a random bit of bandage that they’d had on hand around the cut, so it hopefully wouldn’t get on their denim jacket. Whenever they had to clean the jacket, they had to take all the pins and patches off so that their enchantments wouldn’t get messed up. It was a pain in the ass to put them all back on later.

Nye wiped the blood off the blade of their sword and then jumped up and down a few times. Then they jogged in place, until they were bright red and breathing hard. They took a few more steps, then paused and ran a hand through their hair, getting some blood in it and making it stand up wildly.

_Perfect_ , they thought.

They jogged right until they came to a wall, hopped backwards twice, and then turned left. A few seconds of jogging and another left turn brought them to an orange door that looked just like the first one at the bottom of the staircase. They fought the urge to stop and wait—the person behind the door had already heard them running.

“Dr. Sayre!” Nye said as they pounded urgently on the door. “Dr. Sayre, are you here?”

“Who is it?” someone said.

“It’s Nye! Quick, I need help!” Footsteps approached the door, fast but not running. A woman with skin and hair that strongly resembled brown bark yanked the door open. She looked like some kind of wild forest spirit; weirdly, she was wearing a spotless white lab coat with several pens in the breast pocket.

“Is that _your_ blood?” she asked, orange eyes widening.

“No,” Nye said, holding back a wince at the lie. “My friend is hurt!” Well, that was true at least. “You have to come help!”

“Does that mean you’re willing to accept my help without payment?” Dr. Sayre asked as she ran to fetch her medical kit, gesturing for Nye to follow her. They took a few steps into her office—it was dim, lit mostly by a window that (impossibly) looked out onto the Forest. Dr. Sayre was an odd one, an almost-certainly-fae doctor who mostly helped humans. Sooner or later, just about every questing student would go to her for medical help. She claimed to be happy to treat people with no payment at all, but Nye always paid, just in case she’d been up to something the whole time.

“No,” they said. “I’ll just pay later.” _Boy, will I!_ they thought, their mouth trying to twitch into a smile despite everything.

“Alright,” Dr. Sayre said. “Carry this and hold my hand.” She gave Nye a bag of medical supplies, grabbing her own and sticking out her hand. Nye hesitated, then took it. “Step in between the socks,” Dr. Sayre said, and with that she started running through the maze. Nye stumbled after her, trying desperately to land in the pathways between the lines of socks that made up the maze. They looked up for a moment, to see where Dr. Sayre was putting her feet, and shook their head in amazement.

_She’s doing this all in_ heels _!_ Nye thought. _Now_ that’s _real magic_ _._

Almost before Nye knew it, the two of them were at the beginning of the maze.

“You can let go now,” Dr. Sayre said as she opened the door to the stairwell. Nye dropped the doctor’s hand, realizing that they’d left smears of blood behind. They followed her up the stairwell, swallowing hard. Their throat stuck oddly; it was suddenly dry.

“Where are we heading?” Dr. Sayre asked as the two left Whitehall Dorm.

“Childe House,” Nye said, naming the dorm that Wary lived in.

“Who’s the patient? Anyone I know?”

“About that…” Nye said, adjusting their grip on their sword. Dr. Sayre turned. “It’s my boyfriend. Ivy.”

“Ah,” Dr. Sayre said. “I was wondering why you were carrying your sword out without an illusion on.”

“Shit!” Nye said, reaching up to crack the glowstick charm without taking their eyes off of Dr. Sayre. They thought they felt it crack—that would have to be good enough. Dr. Sayre watched them, her lips pressed together.

“You’re going to hold me at sword-point now, aren’t you?” she said wearily.

“Uh. Yeah,” Nye said, feeling vaguely nauseated.

“Very well,” she said. “I hope you’re prepared to find a new doctor once all this fuss dies down.”

“If I still need one,” Nye said.

“Try to cool it with the suicidal ideation while I’m around,” Dr. Sayre said, starting off towards Childe House. Even though the two of them were taking a shortcut across the grass, her heels didn’t sink into the turf at all. “It makes me feel like I should be treating you instead and I just implied I’m not going to do that anymore.”

“Sorry?” Nye said, making a confused face at Dr. Sayre’s back. “I’ll try?” They pointed their sword at her, but it felt weird.

“You really should see a therapist,” Dr. Sayre said, warming to the subject. “One of those human ones, I suppose.”

“Yeah well it was a little hard to explain to them that no one was abusing me, I just got all those bruises because I had to fight a troll.”

“Tell them you’re in a fight club.”

“You’ve seen that movie?”

“Movie? Please. I read the book.” Dr. Sayre was walking quickly, and Nye had to do an uncomfortable half-jog thing to keep up. Come to think of it, she was probably doing that on purpose. Nye scowled, the half-jog jostling their stomach in a way they didn’t like too much.

_This banter is fun and all_ , they thought, _but why is she so calm?_

“I’m a doctor. You think doctors—people who are more or less supposed to be helpful—are happy that Lady Lir told us we couldn’t help someone? I’m happy to help, now that I have a good cover story. And Ivy’s such a nice boy, too.”

“Can you read minds?” Nye squawked. “Who’s Lady Lir?”

“Yes I can, at least a little bit when someone’s emotions are strong, and did your boyfriend never tell you his mother’s name?” Dr. Sayre said.

“He doesn’t like to talk about her.” _Oh shit_ , Nye thought as something occurred to them. “Did you know I was lying to you when I came and got you?”

“I knew something was off,” Dr. Sayre said. She stopped and turned, facing Nye again. “I just hoped that it was something minor, not that you were fucking _lying to me_.”

“Are you… mad at me? I mean, I’m sorry about the sword thing, it’s just…”

“Listen,” she snapped. “I’m not mad at you. I’m fucking _furious_. And you know why? It’s not because you’re threatening me with a sword, I get that all the time. It’s not even because I know that you’re willing to use it, if you feel like you have to. It’s because you felt like you had to trick me.” She marched towards Nye, her voice getting louder. Were her eyes glowing? “I trusted you, as much as I trust any of your kind—and yes, let me settle that debate I know you heroes have sometimes, I am not _remotely_ human—and I trusted you to trust me, conditionally. I help people, without any payment and without demanding later favors, _because I want to help people_. You know that about me! And you should damn well know by now that lying to one of the _Fair Folk_ is a _betrayal_. If you had come to me and told me that Ivy needed help, we could have worked together to make it look and feel like you were forcing me to treat him. We could’ve even set it up so there was a way for me to get around the truth to cover my ass later! But no! You couldn’t bother to ask for help! You had to storm in and do it all yourself, and now you’ve lost my trust which you didn’t even know you had because you couldn’t _get your head out of your ass!_ ”

“Um,” Nye said, blinking rapidly and trying to ignore the lump in their throat. Cool Lady Knights didn’t start to cry whenever someone yelled at them. “If you want to help him, can’t you just help him? Without me threatening you?”

“You foolish _child_ ,” Dr. Sayre said, and now she was definitely looming over Nye. She wasn’t that much taller than them, but the heels gave her just enough height to be intimidating. “Did you think Lady Lir just went, ‘Oh, various doctors, healers, and other helpful people in the area, would you be so good as to refuse my son service? Thanks ever so!’ and moved on with her life?”

“I’m guessing no?” Nye said, their eyes burning a little.

“You’re right!” Dr. Sayre said. “Congratulations, you win a prize! That’s not how any of this works. I am under a _compulsion_ , which I am fighting with every spare ounce of energy I have, and it would be very helpful if you would stop dangling your sword by your side like a little baby and act like you’re actually threatening me!”

Nye jumped and hastily brought their sword back up.

“Oh kid,” Dr. Sayre said, and she patted Nye’s cheek just soft enough that it almost wasn’t a slap. “What the fuck have we gotten ourselves into, huh?” Nye blinked up at her and she shook her head. “List the patient’s symptoms,” she said, “but don’t remind me who he is just yet. And _keep that sword pointed at me_.”

“I went to his gr—home. I went to his home and he was puking.” Dr. Sayre began to stride away and Nye hurried to follow her, sword in hand.

“What did it look like?”

“Just food, but the next time it was clear.”

“How long between those times?”

“Uh, he was already throwing up before I got there.” Nye scowled. “He didn’t bother to tell about it, of course. He was almost done with the first, uh, bout? Yeah, that, when I got there. And then maybe fifteen minutes later, again, and it was clear?”

“And then what happened?”

“My friend was with me, so we took him to her room—that’s why we’re going to Childe House. She’s been giving him sugar water and crackers without salt.”

“Smart,” Dr. Sayre said, and Nye smiled at the praise for their friend.

“Last night, he threw up blood,” they said, their brief smile fading. “But it was bright red and he fucking—he _wanted to go to sleep_ , so neither one bothered me, and bright red blood isn’t _serious_.”

“Not necessarily true, but go on.”

“Uh, that’s mostly it,” Nye said, trying not to think about it being _not necessarily true_ that bright red blood wasn’t too bad. “My friend called me this morning to tell me, and he was pretty out of it when I got to her room. He got better after drinking more sugar water, so that’s good. Right?”

“Mm,” Dr. Sayre said, helpfully. Nye’s insides clenched.

“Is it bad?”

“Could be,” Dr. Sayre said. “Means he was probably out of it because of the dehydration. Is this Childe House?” She pointed.

“Yeah,” Nye said, feeling awfully short of breath. “You never been here?”

“Not in the daytime and not aboveground.”

Nye swiped the two of them in, and Dr. Sayre bolted for the staircase. Made sense—she probably broke elevators if she took them. Still, Wary’s room was on the fifth floor. Nye started running up the stairs after the doctor, breathing harshly and hoping they weren’t going to start puking too. Their ears were ringing a little. Had they eaten today? Shit.

“Keep up and keep doing your sword thing!” Dr. Sayre yelled from half a flight above Nye. They tried to run faster, but by the time they got to the third floor, Dr. Sayre was already out of sight. They could hear her heels clattering somewhere ahead of them, never slipping even when it sounded like she was rounding a corner. Nye turned at the landing that was halfway up the flight to the fourth floor and heard a door slamming open up above them—Dr. Sayre was probably entering the fifth-floor halls. Hopefully she knew which way to go. Nye tried to take deep breaths as they passed the fourth floor, their heart pounding so hard that they could feel it in their jaw. They didn’t hear any talking, or any more doors opening. Had something happened? Had Dr. Sayre left, or had someone stopped her?

Nye stumbled onto the fifth floor and turned towards Wary’s hall, almost tripping and bashing their head open on the doorknob. They burst into the hall, panting, to see that someone _had_ stopped Dr. Sayre before she could see her patient—Wary.

She was sitting in front of the door, hunched over. The doctor stood with her back to Nye and her hands on her hips, staring down at Wary. Wary, who looked up at Nye with red eyes and a red nose and wet cheeks.

A moment later, Dr. Sayre turned around. Her mouth was slanting one way and her eyebrows were slanting the other and her eyes looked suspiciously bright.

“No,” Nye said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)


	9. Chapter 9

“Nye—” Wary said.

“Get out of my way,” they said, moving towards her, sword still in their hand. Wary screamed, quietly, and scrambled away from the door. _I can feel bad about that later_ , Nye thought, as their hand hit the door and they fumbled with the knob. After what felt like at least a decade, the door opened.

_Oh_ , Nye thought as they saw movement in the room. _This was all a mistake. I’_ _m so_ _stupid._ _Wary’s gonna be_ so _pissed at me for scaring her like that._ They lowered their sword.

“Ivy!” they said, stepping forward.

“Stay back!” Dr. Sayre called from behind them, and Nye realized what was happening.

Ivy wasn’t moving anymore; he was being moved. There was someone else in the room, looming over the bed, someone shrouded in a green cloak, and they were holding his—they were holding him, like a bride. Like Nye had held him yesterday on the way to Wary’s dorm, and up the stairs, and he’d felt so light in their arms.

“No!” they said again, lifting their sword. The person looked up, head cocked. There was something odd about their face, a blur—and Nye didn’t have their sunglasses on so they couldn’t see through it. All they caught was a hint of dark skin and pink hair—bubblegum pink, like an art student or something—and shockingly clear blue eyes. Nye wondered briefly why the person needed a disguise. Was it someone Nye knew? Or Wary, or Dr. Sayre?

_Ah hell_ , Nye thought. _I can kill you even if I can’t pick you out of a lineup._ They charged forward. Or, well, they tried to.

There was something around their chest like an iron band—iron, funny, and they looked down. White sleeve, dark hand.

“That’s a really stupid idea,” Dr. Sayre said in Nye’s ear. “As your doctor, I recommend that you stay right the fuck here.”

“Let me go!” Nye said, struggling, clawing at her arm with their fingernails. Her coat was thick and it protected her, probably charmed. Nye’s hand slid off her arm. “I have to—” Well, they had to do something; they could make it up as they went along. They bent forward and tried to bite Dr. Sayre’s arm instead, since sometimes protective charms were odd and overly specific, but they weren’t flexible enough. They tried to cut her with their sword, but the angle was all wrong, and they thought they’d probably end up stabbing themself as well—and hey, wasn’t that funny, that they didn’t want to do that?

The person in the green cloak gently resettled the body in their arms, supporting the head, even though they didn’t need to. They nodded solemnly, turned, and jumped out the window. Nye tried to lunge forward, but Dr. Sayre kept holding onto them.

“Alright,” Nye said finally, after a long time had passed. “I promise not to jump out.”

“Oh, child,” Dr. Sayre said, and Nye started crying.

 

-

 

Thursday, 1:57 pm:

_Hey Rosethorn, you don’t need to come tomorrow after all._

Thursday, 2:09 pm:

_Uh everything okay Wary?_

 

Sunday, 8:21 am:

_Not really, but don’t worry about it._

 

-

 

“Marian!” her mother called from downstairs. Marian kept reading her book, the noise a distant buzz. “Marian, are you up there? Is everything okay? It’s time for dinner!”

_Oh right_ , Marian thought as her mother kept yelling. _She’s talking to me_.

“I’m fine, Mom!” she said. “I’m coming down, just a second!” She went back to her book, trying to get to the end of the paragraph. It was an old favorite, and she knew she was just about to hit the funny part with the radishes. She’d read it probably ten times by now, and it still made her laugh.

“Okay! What do you want to drink with your dinner?” Marian rolled her eyes.

“Water is fine!”

“Are you sure? Do you want some lemon in it?” Marian grimaced, put the bookmark in her book, and set it down on the floor.

“Sure, sounds great!” she said as she got up from her favorite squishy armchair, which she’d saved and hauled up to her room when her parents had said they were going to throw it out. She went down the stairs slowly, stepping lightly, because her father always complained she sounded like an elephant otherwise.

“It’s nice having you back in the house, even if your stuff is all over the living room floor,” her father said as Marian walked into the dining room. It was the first thing he’d said to her since she got home; her mother had picked her up from college, because Marian didn’t have a car and wasn’t supposed to drive. She had her license and everything, but her parents didn’t like to think about her behind the wheel; even though they could afford to buy her a good used car, they always slithered away from the conversation when she brought it up. Marian worked during the summers, but she wasn’t sure she had the energy for a job during the school year. Maybe by the end of this summer, she’d finally have enough to buy a car, but there were still so many logistics it would be hard to take care of without her parents. How did insurance work? And she’d have to get a ride to and from the car place… Maybe she could wait until she was back in school, and get a car then. Was it legal to buy a car in a different state than the one her license was from? Probably, that seemed like it would make sense. Marian blinked—her father was saying something again. She made a mental note to look the car questions up later.

“Your mother and I are lonely without you.”

_Have you considered getting a hobby?_ Marian thought as she sat down. _Like, literally any kind of hobby?_ The table was already set, and her father had dished up a plate of food for each of them. _And_ _I just got back three hours ago,_ _I’m going to unpack tomorrow, jeez_.

“Oh stop,” her mother said, sitting down at the head of the table. “You’re going to embarrass her.”

“It’s fine,” Marian said. She picked up her utensils and looked blankly at her plate. The food in the dining hall at college wasn’t _great_ , but at least it was interesting. She’d eaten a lot of curry this last year, and coming home to bland chicken, steamed broccoli, and baked potatoes was jarring. The black flecks on the potatoes might be pepper, at least, if they weren’t just burnt bits. Marian took a bite. Nope, they were burnt bits.

“So how was this semester?” her father said, mouth already full. “How are your friends?”

“Ummm…” Marian said, biting her lip. “Uh. Well my friend is having a really rough time right now.”

“Which one?” her mother asked. Marian winced slightly and tried to remember the names she’d made up last time her parents had asked about her social life.

“Nora,” she said.

“Oh, you’ve known her for a while, right?”

“Yeah,” Marian said. “She’s, you know, my _best friend_.”

“I thought your best friend was that Addy girl?” her father said. “She seemed a bit odd, so I suppose I’m not surprised that you two don’t get along anymore.”

“No, she was my roommate, and she had to go on medical leave. She kind of dropped out of contact. But we got along pretty well before that.” Marian took a big bite of her chicken, hoping to avoid any more questions. No such luck.

“So what happened with Nora?” her mother asked. Marian chewed quickly, so her father couldn’t chide her for taking too long to reply.

“Her boyfriend—uh. Her boyfriend left her. It was really bad.” That tight feeling in her throat was _definitely_ just the dry chicken.

“I’m sure it seems that way right now,” her father said, “but in twenty years she won’t even remember his name! I mean, how long were they even dating?”

“Yeah,” Marian said. “Not very long. I’m sure she won’t.”

“And who else?” her mother said. “What are your other friends up to?” She cocked her head. “What were their names again? You’ll have to remind me.”

“That’s kind of everyone? Already?”

“So you’re not making friends,” her father said. Marian frowned and started in on the broccoli. It was even worse than it’d looked. _Have you heard of salt?_ she thought. _Maybe even pepper?_

“Don’t be mean, Phil,” her mother said. “I’m sure she’s made other friends! Who wouldn’t want to be friends with her?”

_Lots of people_ , Marian thought.

“Well, you know,” her father said. “She needs to get out more.” Marian swallowed another bite of broccoli to free up her mouth.

“Most of my other friends are people I met through Addy,” she said. “Since she’s gone, I don’t talk to them much. Sometimes we text, but this semester it really started feeling like they’re a separate group and I’m just a person they talk to once in a while.”

“Haven’t you joined any clubs?” her father said. “I told you to try that.”

“I was in this book club? But I didn’t like the books.”

“The books aren’t the point!” her father said. “The point is meeting people.” Marian and her mother glanced at each other and raised their eyebrows; if nothing else, they could agree that he was being ridiculous. Marian’s love of SciFi and Fantasy novels came from her mother, but her father was only interested in the newspaper, and nonfiction about World War II.

“I might be on the way to making a new friend,” Marian offered. “I met this cool pre-med student.”

“They have pre-med?” her mother asked.

“Yeah,” Marian said. “But she’s doing, uh, non-traditional medicine anyway.” Her lips twitched. “She seems cool, but like… A little out of my league?” She winced. “In a friend way, I mean.”

“You should join more clubs,” her father said. “Maybe do a sport.”

“ _Phil_ ,” her mother said.

“What?”

“You know it might be… _hard_ for her to do sports.”

“She could at least try!”

“I’ve thought about martial arts, actually,” Marian said. It was starting to feel like that would be a useful skill for her to have.

“Oh,” her father said. “Really? Like one of those women’s self defense classes?”

“Like Tae Kwon Do,” Marian said. Neither of her parents replied. She looked down at her plate and moved a few pieces of potato around. “There are classes. I can get credit for them.”

“I don’t know…” her mother said.

“I can talk to the teacher before the classes start. You know, warn them I have some health problems left over. I’ll be careful.”

“I think it’s a good idea,” her father said.

“Really?” Marian was pleasantly surprised.

“It’ll be good for you.”

“Alright,” her mother said. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“And what have _you_ been up to?” her father said. “We got sidetracked by your friend’s boy drama.”

“Not much,” Marian said. “My classes were pretty good. I didn’t really like my Organic Chemistry teacher?”

“Why not?” her mother said. “Was he a bad teacher?”

“He was fine, but he wasn’t supposed to be teaching the class. There’s this really cool guy who was on the schedule as the professor, and everyone says he’s a great teacher. But he started having health problems at the last minute, so literally like four days before the semester started they had to get someone else, and the only person they could find was a grad student. He knew his stuff and all but he wasn’t _great_ , and he was really uptight about classroom rules.”

“Like what?” her father said.

“Like no phones. But there’s no clock in the classroom, and sometimes you just need to check the time.”

“You could get a watch,” her father said.

“I guess,” Marian said. _You’re supposed to be on my side!_ she thought. _I didn’t_ want _you to_ solve _the problem_ _._

“And what else?” her mother said. Marian racked her brain, trying to think of something interesting to tell her parents.

“I got to do some extracurricular fieldwork?”

 

-

 

Marian fled upstairs as soon as she could, stubbing her toe on a box of books along the way. Fine. Maybe her dad had a point about her stuff being a little in the way. She was tired and headache-y, and she couldn’t stand watching the news with her parents; while her family mostly agreed on politics, she hated the news anchor her parents preferred to watch. He always repeated his point over and over again and it got on her nerves, and these days everything he said was just depressing. She was going to go read about fictional space station politics instead of dealing with the real thing.

As she looked down and fumbled for her room’s light switch—it was always disorienting coming back from her dorm and having it in a different place—Marian thought she heard a crow’s caw. Her head shot up, and she slapped the wall with a bit more urgency.

By the time she got the light on, any creatures that might have been in the room were gone. The window was open, though, and Marian didn’t remember leaving it that way.

_G_ _ood_ , she thought. _Just a normal crow, then. That makes sense, I guess, I’m not very close to Elsewhere anyway_. She groaned and rubbed her temples, flopping onto her bed and sinking back against the overabundance of pillows that her mother always set up as soon as Marian had left.

Something crackled under her head.

She sat up again and groped around between the pillows until she finally grabbed whatever it was—a letter, as it turned out. It wasn’t in an envelope, just folded over and sealed with wax imprinted with a symbol that made her head hurt even worse when she looked at it. Marian frowned and grabbed the bottle of Aleve she kept by her bedside, dry swallowing a tablet even though she knew that was bad for her throat. This was definitely a magic thing, but would it be better or worse to open the letter? It might be important information for her, but it could also be something that would drag her into some kind of weird situation and get her in trouble. What would Nye do? Nope, not a good call. What would Toby Daye—no, that was worse. _Oh well_ , she thought and broke the seal.

 

_To Wary, of the Botanical Major, Ascendant Third Year,_

 

_Greetings, from the offices of His Honor, the Judge Swift, of the District of “New England”, in your tongue. Your presence is required from 8:00 am on August 26 th to 5:00 pm on August 29th in Lir Grove on the campus of Elsewhere University. Judge Swift is aware that your parents have not been informed of the nature of the University and its environs; they will be told that you have been selected to move in early so that you may engage in extra credit fieldwork. Professor Mann has been instructed to prepare a brief assignment for you so as to make this true. This assignment will not conflict with your duties in any way._

_Your dorm room will be opened at noon on the 25 th. The relevant authorities have been informed that you will be moving in on this date, and all amenities will be functional. We are not able to offer food for your consumption, but Professor Mann, in her capacity as our human liaison, has set up a “meal voucher program” for the humans involved in this trial. These “vouchers” will be available to exchange at the “Kennings Café”. These vouchers will not be available to exchange at the establishment known as “Denny’s”. There will be one shuttle running into town for the convenience of staff members; Professor Mann will also provide you with a “pass” so that you will not be required to pay a “fare” in order to use it._

_You are called as a witness in the trial of Adelaide, lately of the Forbidden Major, Who is on Indefinite Leave. Lady Adelaide is on trial for the allegéd murder of Lord Ivy, of the Tulip Tree Family, of the Forest. You will be required for the majority of the trial._

_If you have any questions, please contact Professor Mann via email._

 

_Respectfully,_

 

_Secretary Enfys_

_as authorized by_

_Judge Swift_

 

Wary dropped the letter, put her head in her hands, and began to sob quietly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao I'm smashing together like three things for nano (one of them is my thesis but I still shouldn't be doing nano at all) and this fic is one so I uuuuhhhhhhhh finally finished this chapter. probably. let me know if I left any notes to myself in here that I totally missed during my cursory proofread


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